At the start of this new year, hope fills the air, the hope that we can have a better, healthier, wealthier year to build a bridge to the future.

But a dark cloud hangs over us, an assault on this hope. That cloud is the N.C. Republican Party — the group proclaiming they know best for N.C., the group using religion to further their needs, fill their pockets and destroy our state.

I read the Declaration of Independence recently and was struck by some parts. The colonies declared independence because of rules and regulations the king of England established against us.

“He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be attained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

“He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

“He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

“He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.”

The GOP is slowly doing to us today what the king of England did in the 1770s — steal our hopes, our dreams, our freedoms. It is again time to declare our independence and work hard to vote these tyrants out of power.

It is time for our new Independence Day, Nov. 6, 2018.

— George Benson

Salisbury